Car-door-operating mechanism.



G. C. CHERBONNIER. GAR DOOR OPERATING MEGHANISM.l APPLICATION FILED JULY5, 1913.

A1,084,729. Patented Ja,11.2o,1914

UNTTED STATES PATENT oFFicE.

GEORGE C. CHERBONNIER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN CAB.AND FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

CAR-DOOR-OPElRATING MECHANISM.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

Original application led October 9, 1911, Serial No. 653,758. Dividedand this application filed July 5, 1913. Serial No. 777,489.

To all whom it may concern. v

Bc it known that I, Gnonon C. CHnBBoN- Ninn, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, haveinvented a certain new and useful ImprovementV in Car Door OperatingMechanism, of which the following is a full,V

clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, inwhich- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a car provided withmy improved door operating mechanism. Fig. 2 is a side elevational viewof the door and its operating mechanism. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectiontaken through the bottom portion of one side of a car and showing a dropdoor equipped with my improved operating mechanism. Fig.' 4 is aperspective view of one of the gravity latches and a portion of thehousing to which the latch is pivotally connected. Fig. 5 is aperspective view of a modified construction wherein the gravity latchesare connected by a rail or bar.

'My invention relates generally to new and useful improvements indumping cars, and more particularly to the means for holding the dropdoors' of the car closed.

The construction herein shown and described is an improvement on theconstruction disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 905,123, granted to meJanuary 18, 1908, and the prese'nt application is a division of mycopending application filed October 9, 1911, Serial Number 653,7 58. Inboth the patent and application just referred to, the drop door of thecar is equipped on its free edge with one or more latching members,which, as the door is drawn into its closed position by a chain or likeflexible connection operating on the winding shaft, engage against saidwinding shaft and move inward to pass the same, after which saidlatching devices are pulled outward under the infiuence of the windingchain or cable so as to engage on top of the winding shaft to hold thedoor in its closed position.

In my present construction, the latching members carried by the freeedge of the door are,"by the force of gravity, caused to swing outwardafter passing the winding shaft so as to enga e on top of the latter tohold the door close By my improved construction, the winding chain orcable is connected directly to the free edge of the door instead of tothe latching devices, and thus said devices are free to moveindependently of the winding chain or cable.

The particular objects of my resent invention are to generally simplifryand improve the constructions shown in the patent and application abovementioned, and to arrange simple gravity latches on the free edges ofdrop doors of dumping cars so that said latches will automatically seatthemselves upon the winding shaft and hold the doors in their closedposiinons.

To the above purposes, y invention consists in certain novel features ofconstruction and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully describedand claimed.

In the drawings, 10 designates one of the center sills of the carunder-frame, 11 the floor sheet, 12 the side sill and 13 the side wallof the car. The fioor sheet is provided with openings through which thecontents of the car is adapted to discharge, said openings beingnormally closed by doors, such as 14. Each door preferably comprises asheet 'metal plate reinforced and stilfened in any suitable manner andhinged to the car underframe, preferably the center sill, in anysuitable manner;r The outer free edge of each door is normallypositioned beneath the inner edge of the side sill 12, as shown in Fig.3.

Arranged beneath the side sill 12 and 0perating in the usual manner is awinding shaft 15, to which is connected one end of a winding chain orcable 16, the opposite end being attached to a suitable bracket 17. thesame being fixed to and depending from the free edge of the door. Fixedto the free edge of the door and preferably at points near its ends arebracket lugs or housings 18 which constitute pivotal supports for thegravity latches 19, Each of these gravity latches comprises a short bodyportion 20 which is preferably hollow and provided with a smooth outerface 21 which normally occupies an inclined osition.

Formed integral wlth, andl projecting inwardly and downwardly from the-lower corner of the body 20, is a plate 24, and

-found desirable to unite the two latches of each door with a bar, asshown in I `ig..5, for the purpose of adding sufiicient weight' to thelatching members to insure their operation by gravityfand Where suchcon- 'struction employed, the latching members swing together andoperate as one piece.

As the winding shaft 15 1s operated to wind the chain 1G thereon, thedoor 14 will he swung upward so that its free' ndge is brought intoengagement with the side sill '12 and just prior to the time the doorreaches its full closed position, the` inclined faces 2l of the gravitylatches will' strike against the winding shaft, and as the doorcontinues to move, said gravity latches Will swing inward until theypass the Winding shaft'. and immediately thereafter, said latches` will,by gravity, swing outward until thc curved bearing surfaces 26 rest ontop of the Winding shaft. Yhen the latches arc properly seated upon thewinding shaft, the door will be held in its closed position and theweight of the load upon the door acting through the gravity latches ontothe ywinding shaft causes said latches to perform the function of togglelinks, and thus the weight of the load is utilized in maintaining saidgravity latches upon their seats. n

Yl`o open the door, it is only necessary to rotate the shaft 1'5 in adirection to unwind the chain and the surface of said winding shaftbears upon the curved bearing surfaces QG of the gravity latches andthrough friction said gravity latches are swung inward until they arefree of said Winding shaft.

Gravitylatches of my improved construction are very simple, can becheaply manui'actured'and 'automatically seat themselves to hold thedoor in closed position. `It will be readily understood that minor.gp'nges in the size, form and construction the various parts of myimproved door operatingr mechanism can be made and substituted for thoseherein shown and described, without departing from the spirit nl' myinvention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A door operating mechanism compris- The lowerends or un-v ing a door,a winding shaft for raising the -door to its closed position, and a doorlocking member'operating Wholly by gravity tor engaging said shaft andsupporting the door in its closed position. A

2. A door operating mechanism comprising a door, a windingshaft andconnections for raising the' door to'its closed position, and aplurality of independently movable devices for cooperating with theshaft; to support the door in its closedA position.

In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, of a windingshaft and connections for raising the door to its closed position, and aplurality of gravity operated door supporting devices adapted tocoperate with the .winding shaft when the door is in its closed4position.

4. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, of aWinding shaft and connections between the door and shaft for raising thedoor to its closed position,

and a plurality of door supporting devices adapted to coperate with theshaft to support the door in its closed position, which devices operatewholly by gravity while moving into position to engage the windingshaft.

5. Ina door operating mechanism,- the combination with a door, of awinding shaft, a flexible connection between said shaft and the door.and a gravity actuated device for supporting the door in its closedposition, said device having a curved bearing surface adapted to engageupon the winding shaft.

G. In a door operating mechanism, t-he combination of a door, a windingshaft, and a gravity actuated device pivoted to the free edge of thedoor for coperating with the winding shaft when the door is in itsclosed position, the lower end of which gravity actuated device iscurved and adapted to' bear upon the winding shaft.

7. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a hinged door, ofa winding shaft, latches carried by the free edge of the door andactuated by gravity while moving into position to engage the windingshaft and lock the door in its closed position, which latches are swunginwardly by engagement with the winding shaft during the closingmovement of the door.

8. In a door operating mechanism, the combination With a door, of aWinding shaft and vconnections for raising the door to its closedposition, a latch pivotally mounted on the door adjacent the edge'thereof, which latch is adapted to swing inwardly by engagement With thewinding shaft when the door is closed and to swing outwardly by gravitywhen past the winding shaft, and said gravity latch ,being provided atits lower end with a curved surface which is adapted to engage thewinding shaft when the door is closed.

9. In a door operating mechanism, the combination of a door, a Windingshaft, a gravity device carried by the door for engaging the windingshaft to lock the door in its closed position, and which device engagesagainst the winding shaft and moves inwardly to pass said Winding shaftduring the closing movement ot' the door, and then swings outwardly bytgravity for engaging the winding shaft to lock the door.

10. In a door operating mechanism the. combination with a door, of dooroperating mechanism,l and a gravity actuated door latehing memberpivotally connected to the free edge of the door and adapted to engagewith a art of the door operating means to hold said door closed.

1l. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, of apair of housings fixed on the iree edge of the door, and door latcheshaving ,their upper ends seated in and pivotally connected to saidhousings, which door latches swing by gravity into a position to lockthe door in closed position.

l?4 In a. door operating mechanism of the class described, thecombination with a door, of gravity locking devices therefor, andhousings, parts of which extend over the upper ends ot said gravitylocking devices, which housings are tixed to the door.

13. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, of meansfor raising said door, and a pivotallyr mounted latch arranged on theunderside of said door and provided with a curved bearing face thatrests on a support when the door is closed, which pivotally mountedlatch is swung outwardly by the force ot gravity after the edge of thedoor passes the support so that the curved bearing face of said latchengages the support to hold the door in locked position.

14. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, ot awinding shaft. a flexible connection between the door and shaft, and adevice pivotally connected to the door for engaging the winding shaft tolock the door in its closed position, which device is provided with acurved bearing face for engaging the Winding shaft, and which deviceswings outwardly by gravity after passing above the Winding shaft toengage thereon and hold the door in locked position.

15. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a hinged door,of means for raising said door, and a latch pivotally mounted on saiddoor and adapted to swing by gravity into a position for engaging aportion of the door raising means to lock 'said door in its closedposition.

16. In a door operating mechanism.y the combination with a door. ofmeans including a Winding shaft for moving the door to its closedposition, and a latch pivotally mounted on the door and adapted to swingby gravity into position to engage the Winding shaft of the dooroperating mechanism to hold the door in closed position, which latch isprovided with a curved winding shaft engaging tace.

17. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, ot awinding shaft. a flexible connection between the shaft and door, and apair of independently operating door latch devices pi vota ily mountedon the i'ree edge of 'the door and adapted to swing under the torce ofgravity into position to engage the winding shaft to hohl the door inclosed position, which gravity latches are provided, with curved shaftengaging faces.

In testimony hereof I hereunto atiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses, this 28th day ot rme, 1913.

GEORGE C. CHERBOXNlElii.

vitnesws' (')swn 'i'lminmnm HARRY I5. Pinon.

Copies ot this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner ai Patents, Washington, D. C.

